The Right to Self-Definition

Sor Juana persistently claimed authority over her own intellectual and spiritual identity despite institutional and patriarchal attempts to define her role. This concept centers the right to self-definition as essential resistance against class disadvantage, which systematically attempts to fix identities—as 'unskilled,' 'undeserving,' 'other.' Structural inequality depends on others defining the disadvantaged according to economic utility or social prejudice. The right to self-definition asserts that individuals possess inherent authority over their identities, capacities, and futures. This framework is psychological, philosophical, and political: it validates internal experience against external classification. For those experiencing class disadvantage, claiming the right to self-definition means refusing internalized narratives of inferiority, asserting capabilities that systems deny, and insisting on complexity and dignity that structures attempt to reduce.